Hogwarts Again

Currently Oz was sat inside a compartment on the train to Hogwarts with his usual gang. Surrounding him was Harry, Hermione, Craig, Cho and Daphne all of which were trading stories from the summer. Oz chimed in from time to time however there was a thought in his mind at the moment.

'I could have sworn I sensed her at the station... was she making sure I was okay by tailing me...?'.

"So mystery man what did you do in the summer huh?".

Breaking Oz's train of thought was Craig who looked at him with a cheeky grin. As he looked around the compartment he realised that all eyes were trained on him hoping for an interesting story. After all just before the summer Oz informed them all that he some things to do in the summer.

"Ahhh! That's right Oz you didn't even send a single letter! You even promised!".

Cho looked at Oz with a angered look as she remembered how all summer not a single letter arrived from Oz. Since Oz never took the initiative they could never send a letter back as he was completely off the radar to them. Oz looked at Cho calmly replying

"I'm sorry Cho, I was just very busy so I didn't have the time. I travelled around a bit in the summer looking at different places and just experiencing different things. It was a nice change of pace".

If Alfreda heard Oz's comment now she would probably feel start laughing hard seeing how thick her masters skin was. Oz hardly travelled at all during the summer and mainly just stayed in the hideout after all. Hermione chimed in after Oz explained himself.

"That's a shame though Oz... I had a lot of questions for you in regards to some subjects... I was able to ask Cho but it always seems like you give more detailed answers in comparison"

Cho puffed her cheeks out a bit at Hermione's comment however sighed soon after. She had her pride as a Ravenclaw but even she knew her knowledge was under Oz still by a wide margin.

"Well I'm sure we will still have our little study sessions this year as well Hermione, I'll make up for lost time in them. However, there are some things I need to work on this year which could make me quite busy for some time...".

Oz's focus seemed to wonder off at the end of his sentence as the rest of the people in the compartment exchanged looks of confusion. After some time Harry decided to ask Daphne something.

"That's right... Daphne whenever you replied to me via letters you only ever replied to my letters to you and never what Hermione would send. Is there a reason why?".

Hermione's expression jumped at Harry's query towards Daphne. It seemed she was curious about this as well. In the summer it seems that Hermione would sometimes send letters alongside Harrys to Daphne however whenever Daphne sent a letter back there never seemed to be a response to Hermione's questions. Hearing Harry's question, Daphne's face became extremely apologetic in an instant as she looked at Hermione.

"W-well... as you know my family is a pure-blood family. They are quite strict on who I can 'interact' with. When they found out I received a letter from a muggleborn they started to... destroy your letters before they even came to me. Only near the end of the summer did I realise this was happening...".

Hearing Daphne's answer to Harry's question, Oz sighed to himself. Although the Greengrass family weren't ever really connected to the death eaters it seemed as though they still had a certain level of 'blood supremacy' in their ranks. Harry's face turned into a scowl as Hermione clasped Daphne's hand.

"I-its okay Daphne... In the future ill just have to squeeze what I want to say to you into Harry's messages... If only you knew sooner in the summer I could have started doing so earlier".

Daphne's usually mischievous demeanour seemed to disappear in this moment as she seemed sincerely apologetic. Looking at this girl Oz started to wonder where this situation would lead her in the long run. Maybe as she grew older she would distance herself from her family resulting in her personality changing.

After Daphne explained herself, everyone continued trading stories from the summer for the rest of the journey to Hogwarts...

.

"Oz there's a free space right at the back here lets grab it quick".

Currently the trio of Harry, Daphne and Oz had arrived at the great hall at Hogwarts. Looking at the Slytherin table Oz could see further up there was a space for the first years to join onto.

'That's right... she should be joining this year'.

Oz sat himself down with Harry and Daphne and the three exchanged conversations as the proceedings went along. After some time everyone was seated and suddenly the doors to the great hall opened.

In walked a large group of first years looking around the great hall with wonder. Oz looked at them and reminisced back to when he was in that group.

'It's already been three years since I joined Hogwarts... Time surely does move fast...'.

As Oz was feeling nostalgic, Harry and Daphne were discussing who they thought would join their house. The proceedings continued as different first years joined each house. Eventually a certain name was called out by Mcgonagall.

"Luna Lovegood!".

Hearing this name, Oz raised his head from the table up to the sorting chair. There he saw an 11 year old girl climb up the steps and sit herself down looking around the hall with wonder in her eyes. She had grown since Oz first saw her but this was indeed the Luna he met back when he was 11.

"Ravenclaw!".

The sorting hat followed along the canon this time and sorted Luna into Ravenclaw. Just as Luna was stepping down from the sorting chair she locked eyes with Oz and seemingly froze on stage. Oz wore a slight grin as he realised that even after so many years this girl seemed to somehow still recognise him.

"Mrs. Lovegood? Aren't you going to join your house table?".

Blushing slightly, Luna apologised for holding up the sorting ceremony and rushed to her seat on the Ravenclaw table. Harry looked over to Daphne at this moment.

"I wonder what that was all about... she seemed to be looking over here".

As Daphne and Harry started to cook up random theories Oz was reminiscing back to when he went to the Lovegood's all those years ago.

'Back then I was so dead-set on learning magic that I basically charged into their house and guilt-tripped them into receiving those books... Pandora even accidently left notes in one of the books which helped me create augmentum alongside Merlin's notes. I wonder if my closing message changed her fate...'.

Regardless of what had happened to Luna's mother in the end, Oz felt the need to return Luna her mothers notes as well as the books they leant him. Back then Oz didn't realise how much they actually helped him, now knowing how expensive these sorts of books were Oz felt the fact that he held onto them for so long weighing on his conscious. Of course the Lovegood's probably never expected them back anyway, however with Oz's personality changing over the years he felt the need to correct his young mistakes from when he was just dead set on learning magic and nothing else.

'Oh yeah, I did promise her parents that I'd look after her in school. Maybe me keeping an eye out could also be seen as making amends for my previous behaviour...'.

As Oz was thinking over many things the sorting ceremony started to come to a close. Dumbledore then stood up and gave a speech to all the new students, sometimes glancing over in Oz's direction. Compared to the first two years, it seemed this time Dumbledore wasn't trying to pry into Oz's mind at first glance, as a matter of fact there seemed to be a level of respect in his eyes now after their squabble last year.

The feast the went on with Harry, Daphne and Oz eating their fill while talking about various things. After some time, the prefects of each house stood up and started to lead the first years as well as the rest of the years back to their respective house common rooms. Daphne, Harry and Oz trailed at the back of the Slytherin lot essentially taking their sweet time to get back to the dungeons.

"Oh yeah... Oz what do you think happened to that Ron?".

Harry seemingly remembered Ron who they had left at Kings cross when dobby tried to lock them all out of platform 9 3/4. Just as Oz was about to reply he actually spotted the little red head at the main door to the castle with Snape in tow.

"It seems he's down there".

Harrys head snapped around as he looked down at Ron who had just been brought in by Snape. The boy was covered in mud and had cuts all over himself. He had an extremely sorry look on his face as he looked up and eventually spotted Harry and Oz. His sorry look instantly morphed into a look of confusion and anger. Seeing Ron in this state, Oz waved down to him and with a calm smile called out to him.

"Running a little late Ron?".

Harry and Daphne started to giggle as they heard Oz's chiding of Ron. Ron in the meanwhile was going so red he was starting to match the colour of his hair. Snape grabbed the little ginger boy as he pulled him towards the teachers office. Harry watched Ron off as he turned to Daphne and Oz.

"He's definitely in for a grilling isn't he?".

Oz sighed as he looked down at where Ron had been taken to.

'Hopefully this situation can be some sort of lesson to him...'.